This weekend flew by, and I’m beginning today wondering just where the heck it went!

Before we get to Friday night, can we please laugh at how many beverages I have handy on any given Friday!?

Camel.

I think there’s literally about 100 ounces of liquid between all these cups.

Moving on…

Friday night Will’s dad came to stay with us! He and Will went to the OU-Tulsa game Saturday, so he stayed with us so they could leave out together early the next morning.

We ate dinner and talked about his days growing up in Tulsa. He has lots of good stories.

Saturday morning started early. I hit the gym while Will and his dad headed to Tulsa.

Later that morning I went to Life Church to gather together with hundreds of other women for SISTERS! It’s a yearly event where women gather together for a time of worship and teaching.

This year Amy Groeschel spoke, and I was so blessed. She had such a gentle demeanor, yet is still able to command a crowd. I love her and I love her heart!

She spoke about standing firm in this day and time. To yield to God daily, and resist the devil.

Afterward I came home and got some stuff done and then headed to P’s for a sleepover party! Woo hoo!

We had such a fun time. We didn’t so anything exciting but it was just fun hanging out and not having anywhere to be afterward.

We are pizza, watched The Wiggles, contemplated the YouTuber “Disney Collector” (who is this chick and is anyone else creeped out?), and explored bizarre beauty rituals. Real life.

Far different than our Chicago sleepovers, but still so fun in their own right.

Oh- and we had the most delicious pie EVER for breakfast. It was like a team of grandmas got together and created the most heavenly version of every berry pie imaginable, combined it, and tripled the butter and sugar.

Dead.

Thankfully (?) we shared the piece so I didn’t feel as terribly afterward.

I am so glad we hung out and I can’t wait until we can again!

I came home to a house full of men. Will’s dad stayed Saturday night too, and wasn’t feeling the greatest so he ended up sleeping a little longer and having breakfast with us.

He got on the road late morning and Will and I kicked off the afternoon watching football and prepping for the week ahead.

I also managed to do Insanity. I will say pie isn’t the best pre-workout fuel.

Another long week ahead, but thankfully I have some fun stuff coming up!

For the last two weeks, anytime I’ve been running late and had to blow dry my hair, I’ve simultaneously done my makeup.

Is this a thing?

Am I late to the game?

If it is, it’s probably a good thing I waited to start until I was in my 30s. I think perhaps my coordination has improved over the years.

Although, I’m probably just telling myself that…

No softball last night.

Will was visibly bummed.

The good news is that next Monday kicks off Monday night football.

The bad news is that next Monday kicks off Monday night football.

Football widowhood commences.

My sister and I have a terrible habit of planning super exciting things and never following through.

We’ve been talking about a sleepover for months and months but have never actually done it. It’s tentatively on the books for Saturday night. I bought the pancake mix and she’s got the ice cream. Fingers crossed.

I ate my weight in vegetables yesterday.
We got everything on the grill, and a few minutes into cooking, the propane went out.

Sooo, we ended up finishing everything in the oven. Half grilled, half baked. I feel there’s a joke somewhere in there?

I was supposed to go to the OU-Tulsa game with Will Saturday, but it’s a 10:00 kickoff, our seats were in full sunlight, and it’s going to be 97.

I don’t need to link to the hundreds of times I’ve mentioned how I pour from my head and.cant.stop.ever.

Thankfully Will’s dad took one for the team and is going in my place.

Everyone’s happy.

Back in March Will and I ordered a love seat, followed by its matching couch soon after.

When the love seat arrived this spring, I swore it looked darker than what we saw in the store.

I checked online and confirmed there was only one color made in that style. So while I still swore it was darker, I figured the couch would bought had to be the same.

Nope.

The couch came in Sunday and was the original color we saw and wanted in the store.

I’m not sure if you can tell in the picture, but the love seat is way darker.

I have no idea what happened, and it’s crazy the place still supposedly only makes one color in the style. Ughhhh, guys.

I realize I sound like a brat, but when you buy new furniture it should be what you want.

So yeah. Kind of a couch problem with no real remedy because there are no exchanges or refunds.

So if you ever come over? Please don’t say anything about the mismatched couches.

Some I wondered why I even kept, some made me laugh (like my Super Nintendo), and still others made me incredibly reminiscent.

The reminiscent stuff is what I want to talk about today.

Do you have some time and some coffee?

Go get some and come back.

***

We found lots of “treasures,” but a few stand out:

A giant picture frame someone gave us, full of pictures of us with youth at the church where we served,

A couple pictures that used to hang in my bedroom before I got married,

And a journal I wrote in my first few months in Kuwait.

All are distinctive, yet united under the same feelings evoked when I saw them.

Depending on how long you’ve read my blog, you may not know that Will was a youth minister when I met him.

Here we are serving as camp counselors together way back in 2003!

It was perfect. I surrendered my life to ministry as a youth, and our marriage and ability to help serve alongside Will at our church was a dream come true.

Only, no one ever really told us just how difficult our time there would be.

It didn’t come easy like the places where we were before.

The youth were so very different than we were used to. No more squeaky clean preppy kids with parents who were involved.

Every week Will would drive the church bus to pick up almost every single one of those kids in some of the worst neighborhoods in town.

Only a few had parents that went to church, and only a couple helped out.

The biggest struggle was that the church was wrought in pain from the past. There was much division, and the church had never really recovered.

A few months into Will’s service, the pastor was asked to leave, and we faced so many new challenges.

Talk about a heavy load for two kids in their early 20s.

It was hard, and Will hated it. It wasn’t exactly the dream I envisioned.

Then the chance to go to Kuwait surfaced.

What initially seemed like something so outlandish, became an attractive opportunity.

We prayed about it and it seemed like everything lined up to go, and so we went. (Perhaps this will be a future post?)

If you read the archives from waaaay back in 2005, you’ll see lots of adjustments to the new life.

I didn’t work for my first four months there, which felt like torture at the time but in hindsight was such a huge blessing.

It gave me time alone with God. To seek Him and draw close to Him.

When I look back on my journal, I could still see a lot of immaturity and want to tell myself, “Oh Brittny, if you could only see how God was doing a work!” However, I also saw growth and my desire to really pursue a relationship with Jesus. I had loved Him all my life.

When I looked at people seemingly very close to God who had fallen away, I could never understand it.

How could you be so close to God, and so deeply pursuing Him, and then all of a sudden completely fall face first and turn away from His goodness?

Well, sadly I can tell you how it happens.

Listen up, and be mindful my friends. It pains me to be able to share these lessons, but I sincerely hope it somehow serves as a lesson to some of you who may be going through something similar.

The truth is, when I would see people who were formerly strong in their faith who had fallen, I was only seeing the end result of much more.

A process.

Do not be deceived friends, the enemy is all around and wants us to stumble. The Bible says he looks for someone to devour.

It’s very true. The enemy was very patient with me, as I suspect he is with many believers.

It was years of slow erosion. Slowly chipping away in such tiny increments that I barely noticed. He’s crafty that way.

Oh friends, I allowed myself to step out from God’s umbrella of protection and became so vulnerable to deception.

How did it happen?

Let’s dissect.

1.Lack of Community

Moving to a Muslim country made it difficult to openly pursue a relationship with the Church.

Thankfully, someone we knew hosted a Bible study which allowed us the opportunity to meet with other Christians and fellowship and study the Bible.

In fact, as I type I’m pretty certain I have a load of wet laundry I forgot about that will be sitting in the washer all day (yay!).

Happening.

My goal today is to try not to do in one evening what usually takes me half the weekend.

This is me giving myself a public self talk. Sorry for hijacking today’s post.

Let’s get back on track.

Friday was all about creating the semi-fake house.

I hit the gym and worked legs hard, and then did a 30 minute cardio session knowing I probably wouldn’t get to workout Saturday.

Afterward, all sweaty and disgusting, I went grocery shopping.

It’s true, please don’t judge.

Anyway, I cleaned, prepped, and made some goodies for our guests.

I even took time to see my mom and favorite niece. I’m always glad when I get to do that.

Our visitors arrived Friday night. We are dinner and then came home and “visited” over cake and iced tea in true Oklahoma fashion.

Since our third bedroom is officially transforming into “the man cave,” we gave Will’s parents the spare bedroom and his grandparents our room while we used the air mattress in the living room.

I slept like a baby.

Not.

Saturday came early with a 6:30 trip to Starbucks to get our 96oz coffee traveler.

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Real life.

What is it about the elderly that make them wake so early? Will’s grandpa is an early riser.

Anyway, while Will and his dad got coffee, I made breakfast.

We enjoyed breakfast and more chatting. And coffee.

Oh friends. All.the.coffee.

I am a tea drinker and probably only have coffee 1-2 times a month maybe. However, it tasted so good and I drank so much that I unknowing made myself a complete jittering, palpitating mess!

Smooth move.

Anyway- breakfast was nice.

Will and his dad had to run a quick errand, so the rest of us chatted in the living room.

I love Will’s grandparents so darn much, and our talk Saturday morning made me love his grandpa all the more. They are such good, honest, godly people.

He shared a bit of his testimony and talked about how important it was for him to share God’s love with others and tell the truth even when it’s hard. He was on a roll and I was loving it! Next to his dad, Will’s grandpa is one of his heroes and I wish he would have been there to here him.

Will and his dad got back, we enjoyed another round of cake (because cake at 10am is entirely acceptable), and then they were on their way.

It was nice to have the rest of the morning and afternoon to recover a little and get ready for the evening ahead.

I washed sheets, made tahbouli, and even snuck in a quick workout.

We had a BBQ with one of Will’s friends from work. I had never met his wife and kiddos, so it was nice to spend an evening with them.

They were so super thoughtful with their menu, too and had tons of veggie friendly options. We all had a good laugh when they brought out the hummus, something neither of them had ever tried.

“That’s the first thing that comes up when you google vegan,” they said.

We had a good evening, but didn’t stay too long. We watched an episode of Andy Griffith and called it a night.

I had the hardest time getting to sleep (maybe all the caffeine?), but sweet Lucy kept me company.

She’s rarely in a snuggly mood at her old age these days, but she crawled up on me and laid on my stomach and let me pet her. She was so sweet and it was a special moment for me. I love that old bird, and am glad for those moments.

Yesterday was lazy and all about relaxation. We decided to watch church online since we missed our usual Saturday service, and spent the rest of the day doing very little.

I managed to prep food for the week and do some laundry, but that was about it!

Today we have softball games and will be on the go! Let’s take a look at what’s coming up on the blog: